The London Circle

| The London Circle | 10 Jan 2024 For almost 13 years, the Asaad Regime in Damascus has been overseeing the massacre of hundreds of thousands of Syrians, many by means of illegal chemical and biological weapons, the destruction of countless Syrian towns and cities and the displacement of almost half the Syrian population, yet it seems that the international justice system has failed in bringing an...

| The London Circle | 20 Dec 2023 Coming from a housing estate in Central London, and facing substantial challenges, Hamza Taouzzale decided early on to work towards addressing the social challenges of his neighbourhood, and ended up sitting next to the Royal Family and being a star guest at the King’s Coronation. How much do social obstacles contribute towards making or breaking an individual? Th...

| The London Circle | 29 Nov 2023 In light of over 50 days of incessant shelling and destruction of Gaza, which left over 14,000 civilians dead, what use is International Law, and what good does labelling the actions of Israel as War Crimes, bring? Indeed, what has the International community done for numerous cases of gross violations, such as Syria, Bangladesh, the Uyghurs and Yemen, to mention...

| The London Circle | 15 Nov 2023 The Muslim Charity Sector in the UK is one of the most, if not the most thriving of all charitable sectors. Tens of millions pour into and out of this sector every year and Muslims are described as the most generous faith community in the UK, year after year. What are the opportunities to achieve real growth and development for the Muslim community and all of soci...

| The London Circle | 08 Nov 2023 Hundreds of thousands continue to flood the streets of London every week in support of Palestine. Flags and chants galore, despite threats from the Home Secretary. This coming Saturday an even bigger crowd is expected. But how do you build this momentum? John Rees of Stop the War Coalition discusses with Anas Altikriti the legacy of the Pro-Palestine campaign in t...

| The London Circle | 01 Nov 2023 Story telling is surely one of the most profound means of understanding the meaning of struggle, and Bernt Hermele has certainly made listening to stories of survivors of the Holocaust as well as those who suffer the Israeli occupation of Palestine, a form of art. The quest to know and understand is powerfully manifested in Bernt Hermele’s story of conversion from...

| The London Circle | 25 Oct 2023 Suella Braverman has been vocal about her intention to crack down on pro-Palestinian demonstrations and campaigns, going as far as to suggest that the mere carrying of the Palestinian flag might be seen as a criminal act. Yet more and more young people of all backgrounds seem intent on displaying their support for the Palestinian people and concentration of Israel...

| The London Circle | 18 Oct 2023 The audacity of the attacks carried out by Hamas against Israel on the 7th of October caused reverberations around the world and could potentially be a game-changer for the entire struggle against Zionism. The world woke up on the 7th of October to a military operation carried out by #Hamas, the audacity and expanse of which was unprecedented. Since then, the rami...

| The London Circle | 11 Oct 2023 The fact that Muslims, and especially Muslim activists are subject to monitoring and their privacy often violated due to anti-terror allowances is well known. But how deep and how far do these violations of privacy, data sharing and profiling go, and at what expense? Phantom Parrot is a new documentary covering the trials and tribulations of activists at the hands...

| The London Circle | 04 Oct 2023 For centuries, Palestine was a diverse multi-religious, multi-ethnic and multi-cultural society whose various facets lived side by side in peace. The Zionist project targeted all those facets and today threatens their very existence. Palestine’s Christians, inhabitants of Palestine for over 2000 years have their story to tell. The dominant narrative on Palestine p...

| The London Circle | 27 Sep 2023 Behind government policies which emerged following the 9-11 attacks and the heralding of the war on terror, is a sophisticated web of psychological analysis and mental health evaluations, not far from sci-fi plots of Hollywood, where crimes are pre-empted and terrorists are detected before they have themselves considered committing any criminal acts. Or so, we are...

| The London Circle | 20 Sep 2023 Long described as the most oppressed people in the entire world, the struggle of the Rohingya continues not only in the face of systematic dehumanisation, but against global ignorance or indifference to their plight. The suffering of the Rohingya people has been ongoing for decades but exacerbated further by one of the most brutal military regimes in the world, in...

| The London Circle | 13 Sep 2023 With mental health being better understood and better monitored by all parties, including authorities and practitioners, questions emerge as to the presence and impact of mental health on Muslim communities, as well as avenues available to address these issues. Mental health has only been talked about and somewhat understood in the last few years, and to date, muc...

| The London Circle | 06 Sep 2023 Why is it that the UK democracy seems to be failing the people so fantastically, with little hope that any real change is likely under Labour if they were to win the next elections? With the economy in disarray, the cost-of-living crisis getting progressively worse, the NHS being hammered into the ground, and young people having to choose between activism and bein...

| The London Circle | 30 Aug 2023 Two years on from the scenes of the US forces and their agents scurrying onto the wheels and engines of planes leaving Kabul in a hurry, Afghanistan is a country that is proving a far greater success than most ever thought possible. A recent delegation of Muslim leaders went on a fact-finding mission to ask the Taliban government tough questions, especially pertai...

| The London Circle | 23 Aug 2023 The first victims of frontline doctors and health providers who fell to Covid were Muslims. Hundreds of thousands of Muslims work across the NHS, which is the jewel of the United Kingdom and a model example to all health sectors anywhere around the world.  However, the NHS is being severely undermined due to successive governments driving it towards a US-style pri...

| The London Circle | 16 Aug 2023 The Rabi’s Square massacre against peaceful protestors against the Military Coup which crushed the fledgling democracy in Egypt, was described as the worst massacre committed in modern times, and a crime against humanity. Yet 10 years on, very little has happened to restore justice to the countless victims. When the Egyptian military invaded Rabi’a Square on the 1...

| The London Circle | 09 Aug 2023 Why is the cause of the Uyghurs so complicated, and why is the world divided so deeply over where to stand thereon? Despite public denouncements of China over the cultural genocide perpetrated against the Uyghurs, little is being done in real terms to either bring the Chinese regime to account or to offer actual help and assistance to the victims. In a recent Unit...

| The London Circle | 02 Aug 2023 It’s been two years since Kais Saied mounted a coup on the Tunisian constitution, and more than 100 days since the arrest of the elected Speaker of the Tunisian Parliament Sheikh Rached Ghannouchi. Where does Tunisia find itself now and what can the Tunisian people look forward to? When Kaid Saied dissolved parliament and suspended the Constitution, many thought t...

| The London Circle | 26 July 2023 In a recent trip to France, Muhammad Rabbani was stopped at the airport, held for an entire day and ultimately banned from entering the country, all because he dared criticise France’s treatment of its Muslim communities. Anti-terror laws which allow security authorities to hold, interrogate and intimidate Muslim activists seem to be not only expanding, but also...

| The London Circle | 28 June 2023 As vile as Anti Semitism is, yet the loose and casual brandishing of that charge against anyone and everyone who dares criticize Israel or Zionism, threatens to devalue the term of its serious and dangerous implication. In his newly published book, The Weaponisation of Anti Semitism, Asa Wistanley illustrates the time of Jeremy Corbyn at the helm of the Labour Pa...

| The London Circle | 21 June 2023 Since 9-11, countries around the world have quickly adopted legal procedures and laws which have resulted in human rights abuses and transgressions against personal and public rights in an unprecedented manner. Yet, the state of security has not improved, indeed it has worsened for millions around the world, and especially Muslims. With fully fledged criminal and...

| The London Circle | 14 June 2023 The legacy of student campaigning in the UK is nothing short of fantastic, with students constantly campaigning against the ruling establishment in the UK and across the world. However, things have changed with the politicization of this crucial arena of civic manifestation, and have reduced it to a shadow of its former self. British students have always campaign...

| The London Circle | 07 June 2023 The global attention on the recent Turkish elections was remarkable affirming Türkiye’s status as a world power with great influence. But what of the challenges it faces and the ongoing impact of the earthquake and the fall in the value of the Lira?  Türkiye has undergone what is nothing short of a miraculous transformation on every level over the course of the A...

| The London Circle | 31 May 2023 How effective is the attempt to bring China to account at the ICC in The Hague, and how could justice be delivered when the process is so lengthy, arduous and convoluted with political posturing on all sides? The case of the Muslim Uyghurs of China is one that is known all across the world. Presidents, Prime Ministers and leaders have spoken out against the cultur...